Tottenham Hotspur completed their summer spending spree with an £11.5m move for Ajax’s Christian Eriksen. The young Danish international was attracting interest from the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City during the summer, but chose to join Tottenham, a move which took their spending beyond the £100m mark. Eriksen, 21, joined Ajax in 2008, and he played 161 games for the Dutch side whilst scoring 32 times. He was a key player to Ajax’s successes over the last few years and was vital to their attacking play.

The key strengths to Eriksen’s game include through balls, key passes, long shots, direct free-kicks, taking set-pieces, and his overall passing ability. His main weakness is his aerial ability, mostly due to his height and upper body strength. Last season, Eriksen scored 12 times for Ajax while assisting seven goals as well, highlighting his importance in terms of the attacking side to his game. Even early on in his Spurs career, he has begun to highlight his own strengths and justify the reasons why Spurs signed him. In his first two Premier League appearances for Tottenham, he has already assisted one goal, with five shots on goal from the Danish international as well. Eriksen has also bagged himself a goal in the Europa League to cap off a rather impressive start to his season.

He was not necessarily brought in to replace Bale, as that would be a rather hard task for him to do, although their styles of play are quite similar. Both players are direct in what they do when in possession of the ball, and they both possess similar talents as well. He is consistent with his performances, and is regarded as someone who steps up to the plate in big games, and you can understand why.

Another strength he has in his game is his versatility. This is due to him being able to play a number of roles across the midfield. His ability, vision, and trickery on the ball gives him that extra edge in his game, and makes him a hard player for defenders to deal with. He also has a small frame and is technically a very gifted player. That, added with his pace, means he will have the ability to brush past defenders at times, something which Bale himself did on a regular basis.

His eye for a pass and vision are arguably his best strengths though. He will fill in that number 10 role, pulling the strings just behind the striker and creating chances. His reputation over recent years has been built due to his performances for Ajax, and may arguably turn out to be Tottenham’s most important signing this summer, although it may be a bit early to say that.

Eriksen’s strengths will be key assets for Andre-Villas Boas in terms of his side’s progression this season, given the money that has been spent and the talent that has come in. Since he took over from Harry Redknapp, the style of play that Spurs possessed has changed. Their play has more flair to it in addition to a more patient approach and more patient build up. But the technique and link-up play that Eriksen enjoys can be key to making this work for them.

One player who will be looking forward to linking up with Eriksen is Roberto Soldado. Eriksen’s ability to cross the ball will certainly come in handy. Soldado will be begging his manager to play the Dane on a regular basis and will be crying out for his vision and ability to be utilized in the correct manner as well. Soldado has a fantastic eye for goal, and when picked out by a pin-point cross or pass, he makes very good use of it, and the majority of the time, he slots home. I can personally see these two linking up really well, and they will click very early on in my opinion.

So, in summary, I’d just like to say how much of a coup Tottenham have bagged themselves in signing Christian Eriksen. He is the type of player you want in the Premier League. He will be a breath of fresh air for Spurs, and I really think he will make them a much better side and make them more exciting to watch. He has all the attributes, ability, skills, style of play etc. to really make his mark in the Premier League, and he will be very key to Tottenham Hotspur if they are to challenge from silverware this season.